1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fishing equipment in general and more precisely to a fishing rod handle designed to retain a fillet knife and a diamond steel sharpening rod.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The sport of fishing has been practiced for thousands of years and remains a popular past time in this country. Among the myriad of accessory equipment used by fishermen is the common fillet knife and a knife sharpener. A Fisherman must generally pack and transport these items in an already crowded tackle box, a fishing bag, or he carry them on his person. There is always the possibility of misplacing or forgetting accessory equipment and attempts have been made to consolidate these devices to provide convenience and reduce bulk. Most efforts were directed towards compact survival knives in special cases. As our device is directed towards sheathing a useful knife in the handle of a fishing pole, to the best of our knowledge, nothing similar is available in the market place at the present time. To examine patented devices, a search was conducted in the classes and subclasses including 43/4, 23, 25, 25.2, 18.1, 6, 54.1, 7/106, 167, and 158. The search was directed towards producing past art patents incorporating knives and knife sharpeners as part of conventional rod and reel style fishing poles. Of the patents examined, the following appear most pertinent to our invention:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 2,003,893, dated June 4, 1935, was issued to L. K. La Pan for a fishing rod with modified hand grip. The hand grip contains a measuring tape and weighing scale.
2. The Mitton device, issued on May 13, 1954, U.S. Pat. No. 2,678,817, shows a combination fishing pole handle and weighing scale.
3. On Apr. 8, 1975, Reveaux was granted U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,600, for a survival kit which combines a pivotal knife, retractable wire saw, and a wind-up fishing line within a small hand-sized housing. Although a small pivotal knife is shown, the handle is not designed for use with a fishing pole.
4. A patent for a hand caster was issued to Lapinski on Sept. 20, 1977, U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,743, which shows a handle with enclosed light and knife with a reel affixed endwardly. No pole is provided.
Although the Lapinski and Reveaux patents show hand held fishing devices with enclosed knifes, neither are of a similar nature to the present invention. Lapinski shows a small knife with no handle probably useful only for cutting a fish line. The Reveaux device is simply a survival kit not meant for use with a pole. The Lapinski and Reveaux devices are representative of past art handles encasing knives and having some usefulness for fishing. Provisions for retaining a sharpening device within the handles is not shown. If either of these devices were modified for use with a pole, both require custom made reels and the wide variety of standard commercially available reels cannot be used. This also limits the versatility of the device.
The La Pan and Mitton devices represent more conventional style fishing poles with handles modified with a compartment. A useful knife is not provided in either device. Instead, the handle compartments are used to retain weighing scales or tape measurers. There are no means provided for retaining knives or sharpening stones and none has been anticipated in the specification or illustrated in the drawings.
Our device is designed to simulate conventional fishing poles in both function and appearance. Not only can efficient casting of the line be accomplished with the fishing hole, the reels can also be exchanged. The added advantage of an intrinsic fillet knife and a knife sharpener provides additional convenience for the fisherman.